Telephone-switch.



F. L. MYERS.

TELEPHONE SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29, m5.

1 ,1 5, 6., Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

' ous noises in homes of subscribers. other than 3 riuaaae' STTATES rem minor; MYERS, or nnwrr'r, IOWA, ASSIGNOB, or one-HA F To rnoivms FOLEY,

I a I CHARLOTTE, IOWA.

"TELEPHONE-SWITCH.

To all whom it may concern:

citizen of the United-States, residing at De- Witt, in the county of Clinton and State of Iowa, have-invented new, and useful Im 'provements in Telephone-Switches, of-wh-ich the following is aspecification.

. This invention relates, to. a telephone switch, and the primary object of the same is to provide automatically operating means for-cutting out or relieving talking subscriber's on party linesfrom annoyance and inconvenience n conversation by the varr those talking and due to interference of nontalking subscribers who remove the rece1vers from the-supportin switch arms of their telephones and place t e latter in the talk ing circuit "to ascertain the nature of the conversation of the talklng subscribers, various noises-1n the houses or rooms of nontalking subscriber's being usually transmitted to' the talking subscribers by eachfcuri- 011s or eavesdropping non-talking subscriber cutting into the line.

The invention in the present instance consists of an. improvement on the construction and arrangement of parts. disclosed by my gending application Serial No. 863,679, filed eptember 26, 1914:, and which'wi-llj be more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

' In the drawing: Figure 1 is a sectional perspective view of a switch embodying the features of the invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of a port-ion of a casing showing the improved switch in one of its adjusted positions.- Fig. 3 is a view.

' slot 12- of the escutcheon extends fully Be it known that I, FRED L. MYERs,ja-.

V 7 Patented Aug. 31, 1915. I Application filed anuary 29, 1 915. v Seria1 No. 5,146. I I

through the lower end of the latter, as at I 18, to facilitate the application of the said escutcheon over theexteriorly projecting a .portion of the'switch lever 6. The upper -end wall 14 of the slot 12 is located slightly ybelo'w the upper terminating wall .ofthe the upper end wall 14: of the slot 12 instead extent as determined by prearrangement, the upper edge of the said lever will strike 'of engaging the upper end wall of the slot 10, and by this means wear of the upper end wall of the slot 10 will be prevented.

The lever 6 bears on the 'upperfree end of'an elongated looped spring 15 which has its lower end attached to an insulating base 16 secured to the bottom of the-casing 5,

The upper free end of the spring 15 engages the under edge of the lever 6 adjacent to the fulcrum support 8 of the said lever, and

depending from the fulcrum of the lever and extending outwardly below the latter is spring contact leaf or member 20 havingv an arm 17 having an angularly'. projecting pin 18 at its free end. The pin l8 loo'sely engages the free bent or'hooked end 19 of a shorterspring contact leaves or members 21 similar to Fig.2 illustrating another posi-fi tion of the parts of the switch. Fig. 4 is a detail-top plan view of a portion of the switch organization.

. -The numeral 5 designates a part of the.

casing or framework offjan'ordinarysubscribers telephone equipment having a switch lever 6 suitablyforked to hold a re ceiver 7, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The lever 6 is fulcrumed to a support 8,'as at 9, and movably-projects through a slot '10 in the one end of the-casing or framework 5, and around this slotand on the outer side of the end of the'casingor framework an escutcheon plate 11 is secured which is vertically slotted, as at 12, the said slot 12 in thepresent instancebeing of uniform width throughoutjits vertical extent. The

and .22 arranged in superposed relation 85, I thereto and to each other. The leaves .pr

members 20, 21 and 22 are allheld on the-. 1 insulating base 16, and interposed between them and the'base'are insulating space strips 23, one of said insulating strips 23 being arrangedron the top surface of the leafor {member 22 for engagement by the heads of the fastening screws or other. devices 24 for I all of said leaves or members. The leaves or members 20 and 2 1,are also respectively 7 provided with contact points '25 and 26, and

all the leaves .or members have their inner ends 2'2, 28 and 29" reduced and preferably bent upwardly for conveniently attaching wires-.30, 31 and 32 for connecting the leaf cal movement ofthe switch lever 6, and the saidmeans embodies a catch 33-pivoted at its upper end. as at 34, totlie-escutcheon plate and adjacent end of the casing 5.

106." i or member20 to the line. the leaf or mem-' ber 21 to the receiver, andthe leaf or mem- The escutcheon plate 11 is formed with an angularly bent outwardly projecting guide flange 35 which is formed with a vertical slot 36 and in the said slot a push lever or ,bar 37'is mounted and has a front head 38.

ver engaging member 42. having a lower squared end 43 against which the upper edge of the lever is adapted to contact. Normally the lower squared end 43 of the lever engaging member 42 is disposed over the lever 6 and partially closes the slot 12 of the plate- 11,- and to maintain the said lever engaging .member 42 in the normal position just described a spring 44 is attached to the pin 33 and to a projection 45 preferably cut and bent rearwardly from the flange 35, as

clearly shown by Fig. 4. The spring 44 is strong enough to draw the lever engaging member 42 forwardly when the switch lever 6 is depressed below the plane of the lower squared end 43 of the said member, and the catch will automatically operate when the switchdever 6 is depressed to move forwardly'over the upper edge of the switch lever and across or over the upper portionof .the slot 12 of. the escutcheon plate 11. The

lever engaging member 42 of the catch is released from the switch lever 6 by pressing rearwardly on the head 38 and release lever or bar 37, such movementof the release lever or bar 37 operating to swing the catch 33 as a whole on its fulcrum 34 against the resistance' of the spring 44, and when the lower squared end 43 of the lever engaging memher 42 clears the upper edge of the switch lever 36 'the latter is permitted to rise or move upwardly the full extent or predetermined distance in the slot 12 by reason of :the formation of the recess 40 in the catch.

When the switchlever 6 is depressed to clear the lower squared end 43 of the lever engaging member 42, the spring 44 immediately comes into action and the catch 33 is drawn forwardly until the projection or nose 41 strikes the flange 35 and at which time the lever engaging member 42 will be in normal position over the upper portion of the. slot 12 of theescuteheon plate 11.

In manipulating the catch attachment as just explained only a slight pressure 1s required on the head 38 to effect a release of the switch lever 6. The lower or squared 'end 43 of the lever engaging member 42-is elevated. some distance above the lower terminating wall of the slot 10 in the end of the casing so that the switch lever 6 will be permitted to have a slight upward movement when the receiver is released from the fork, but the upward movement of the switch lever 6 will be limited by the same coming in contact with the lower squared en'd 43 of the said member 42.

hen the receiver is on the outer forked end of. the lever 6 the latter is held down close to the lower terminating wall of the slot 10 and some distance below the lower squared end 43 of the leverengaging member 42, and in this condition the telephone instrument as a whole will be ready for signaling. hen the lever 6 is in signaling position, as shown by Fig. 1, all the leaves or members 20, 21 and 22 are out of contact, or the talking circuit is open. hen the receiver '7 is removed from the lever 6 by a subscriber the said lever automatically springs or moves upwardly through theaction of the spring 15 thereon and strikes'the lower squared end 43 of the lever engaging member 42, as shown by Fig. 2, and the spring leaf or member 20 is drawn upwardly by the action of the arm 17 and the contact point 25 engages the lower side of the leaf or member 21and thereby connects the receiver in the line circuit, the leaf or member 22, however, being free of contzictavith the leaf or member 21 below, and hence the transmitter is not connected in theline circuit. When the lever 6 is released by pressing on the head 38 and forcing the lever 37 backwardly to rearwardly swing the catch 33 as a whole on its fulcrum 34 and release thelower end 43 of the lever engaging member 42 from the lever 6, the said lever 6 is permitted to move upwardly to its full predetermined extent in the slots 10 and 12 respectively in the end of the casing and the escutcheon plate 11, the lever 6 being thus forced upwardly by the spring 15 until it strikes the upper end wall of the slot 12, and when the switch lever is in this full elevated position the leaf or member 20 will be drawn up a greater distance and therewith the leaf or member 21 to set up a complete engagement of the contact points 25 and 26 respectively with the leaves or members 21 and 22, as shown by Fig. 3, the receiver and transmitter under the latter conditions being both connected in the line.

hen the leaves or members 20, 21 and 22 are in the position shown by Fig. 2- with the switch lever 6 bearing against the lower end 43 of the lever engaging member 42 of the catch. the transmitters of the instruments in the homes or rooms of subscribers taking down their receivers to listen to the conversation of subscribers regularly connected up will not be connected in the line, and hence the noises in such homes or rooms of the listeners or eavesdroppers will not be heard by the regularly connected subscribers, though other subscribers on the line may hear the conversation of the regularly cone nected and conversing subscribers. I The advantage ofthe improved attach: ment is. the ability of the conversing sub-- scribers' to readily and locallycontrol their instruments so that conversation will be;

clear and uninterrupted by noises trans-v noises incident to connection of all the bat terieswith the line. a

v Various kinds and forms ofiboxes casings or frames are used in local telephone equipmenta'and'the improved switch is adapted for application-to any and all of the forms ofjboXes-0r.,casings.now in-use. Moreover,

the leaves or members 20, 21 and 22 and the 1 arm 17 together with the insulating devices orstrips23 may be readily'applied to switch levers now in'use'with comparatively little trouble, and likewise 'the-catchattachment may. also be easily disposed in operative po sition in connection with of switch levers, I Wha-tis claimed is: v -i v .1. The combination with a telephone the present form a switch lever, of means forfgivinga variable I f movement thereoflconsisting of a manually v L0 controlled catch having. an automatic return- ,jmovenient to normal position when released; and; yieldmg contact-members movable by the switch lever and adapted to be'respectively connected to-lifne, the receiver and the transmitter of a local telephone equipment, 7 thevariable movements of the lever setting up an engagement of either two or all of the? said contact members.

1 2 The combination with a telephoneswitch lever [having variable vertical movements, a manually controlled catch device movably mounted over the switch lever and having'an engaging member for the leverto check the upward movement of such switch lever, the catch being automatically returned" to normal position over the lever when released, and yielding contact members movable by the switch lever and adapted to be respectively connected to line, the receiver and. the transmitter of a local telephone equipment, two of thecontact members being brought. into engagement when the lever is held against full vertical movement thereof. y

3. The combination with a telephone switch lever having vertical movement when released, of a catch having a depending switch lever engaging member and ingprovided with spring means for returning it to normal position and also with an operating lever for releasing the said 11161117 fill-a crumed at its upper extremity, the catch beher from the switch lever, and three insu-.r

lated yielding contact members movable by the switch lever and adapted to be respectivelyconnected to line, the receiver and the transmitter of a local telephone equipment, the switch lever when checked in its vertical ,mo'vement causing engagement of contact f members adapted to be connected to thelme and the receiver, and the full vertical'm'ovement of the switch lever effecting engagement of. all the contact members and connecting thereceiver and the transmitter. t0 thelinenf In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my handin presence of two subscribing witnesses. a y

FRED L. MYERS. Witnesses W. P.v Dnnmson, I WM; I-Imns. 

